Record strip or controller for composing, type-casting, and other machines.



PATENTED JUNE 25. 1907 W. BANGROFT. RECORD STRIP 0R CONTROLLER FOR GOMPOSING, TYPE GASTIN G, AND OTHER MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED 0012.25. 1906.

-- Strips or Controllers for Composing,

Nrrnn STATES P T OFFICE.

WI FRED BANCROFT, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO LANSTON MONOTYPE MACHINE ooMPANY, or PHILADELPHIA, PENN- SYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF VIRGINIA.

,REQORD STRIP OR CONTROLLER FOR COMPOSING, TYPE-CASTING, AND OTHER MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent. 7

Patented June 25, 1907.

Application filed October 25,1906. Serial No. 340,535.

To all whom, it nzay concern:

Be it known that I, WILFRED BANCROFT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Record Type- Casting, and other Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,

the same, reference thereon.

This invention relates to an improved form or construction of record strip or controller for automatic machines such as type casting and composing machines, musical instruments etc., and has for its object to prevent mutilation and displacement of the strip by the feeding devices and at the same time insure operative registry between the strip and the composing and performing mechanisms.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred form of embodimentFigure 1 is a perspective view of the record strip in roll form with one end extended to disclose the feed perforations. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a portion of the feeding mechanism of the composing machine with the improved record strip or controller in position above the punches.

Corresponding numerals in the several figures designate like parts.

The record strips or controllers for type casting and composing machines as heretofore generally employed consists of a strip or web of flexible material wound into roll form and provided with two parallel series of equally spaced circular perforations extending longitudinally of the strip in close proximity to the opposite margins thereof. This strip is-first subjected to the action of a keyboard perforator or composing machine such as that of Patent No. 654,115, provided with a feeding mechanism for intermittently advancing the strip relatively to a series of "-I punches extending transversely of the strip and adapted to be selectively operated to produce successive controlling signals or perforations. After passing through the composing machinewhere it is again wound into a roll the strip or web is in condition for application to the type casting and composing machine such as that of Patent No. 625,998, which is provided with feeding and registering devicessimilar to and harmonizing with those of the composing machine.

The principal elements of the feeding devices of both the composing and performing machines are two pin wheels in parallel relation each provided with a series of equally spaced conical pointed teeth adapted to enter the marginal perforations near the edges of the strip, and by their engagement therewith not only insure a regular and positive advance movement in unison with that communicated to said pin wheels, but also positioning the strip relative to the signal producing and performing devices so as to secure registry of the signal perforation.

If the strip was composed of material unaffected by variations in temperature and moisture, all would be well, but the fact is that the material universally employed, on account of cheapness, is paper. Now it is a well known fact that this material-paperis susceptible in a marked degree to variations in the hygrometric conditions of the atmosphere, consequently it not infrequently happens that a record strip perforated on one day will not register with the feeding and performing devices of the casting machine owin to the lncrease or diminution in length an width due to changed hygrometric conditions. Variations in the length of the strip are not of such moment as those which affect the width, owing to the small interval between successive marginal perforations, whereas that between the pin wheel is relatively large, with the result that the strip instead of being drawn flat when presented to the performing devices, is either crowded and creased or unduly stretched, thereby producing a rupture along one or both margins in the line of the feed perforations, and, in some instances, compelling such rupture by causing the imperforate margin beyond the feed perforations to ride up on the points of the pin Wheel. N umerous attempts have been made to supply a remedy for this defective performance of the record strip, as by rendering the feeding devices automatically adjustable in response to variations in the width of the strip, but so far this has proved impracticable as the condithe composing or performing machines, but

pertains solely to the strip itself, and that is to equip the record strip or controller 1 with the usual series of circular marginal feed perforations 2 on one edge only, and supply the other or opposite edge with a corresponding series of laterally elongated or extended marginal perforations 3 of a length measured transverse of the strip approxnnatmg, or,

preferably, slightly in excess of the maximum degree of variation in width to which the paper is liable under normal atmospheric conditions. By this means longitudinal registry and the regulated advance or feeding movements are effected as before by the engagement of the pins on the pin Wheels 5 with the forward edges of the perforations, while the transverse registry is effectedby the pins entering the circular perforationsin one edge or margin of the strip, the elongated perforations in the opposite margin accommodating the lateral displacement incident to expansion or contraction, thus avoiding rupturing strains and preventing the unperforated portions of the margin from mounting the pins and being damaged thereby.

In Fig. 2 the record strip 1 is represented in full lines at the maximum degree of expansion and in dotted lines at a minimum degree of contraction, showing that in either condition it can be passed through the composing machine without injury or interference with the registry of the signal perforations, the latter produced by punches 6 taking their positions relative to the line of smaller or circular perforations 2.

Assuming the strip to have been supplied with the usual circular feed perforations in opposite margins while the material was in the expanded condition indicated by the full lines in Fig. 2, and owing to change in atmospheric conditions it should shrink to the dimensions indicated in dotted lines, it is obvious that any attempt to pass the strip through the composing machine while in this one or both margins in the line of the perforations, due to the fact that the interval between the planes in which the pins of the two pin wheels 5 operate is greater than the interval between the marginal perforations along opposite edges of the strip so that if one set of pins fully entered the perforations on its side the imperforate margin on the opposite sides would ride upon the points of the pins, and if the points of both sets of pins should perchance start to enter at the same time they would, when fully entered, force the margin outward thereby rupturing the margin or tearing the material between adjacent perforations.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is zl. A record strip or controller provided with parallel series of feeding and registering perforations along opposite margins, the perforations along one margin being elongated or extended laterally of the strip proportionally to the perforations along the opposite margin.

condition Would result in a separation along 2. A record strip or controller comprising a strip or web of flexible material provided along one margin with aseries of spaced circular perforations and" along the opposite margin with a corresponding series of laterally elongated perforations.

3. A record strip or controller consisting of a flexible strip or web of paper wound into a roll and provided with two series of coincident perforations along opposite margins, the per forations of one series circular and of the other laterally elongated.

4. The combination with a plurality of pin wheels in parallel relation and ;at fixed distances apart, of a controller provided with a series of perforations to receive the pins of one wheel for feeding and re istering purposes, and a second series of faterally elongated perforations in line with the other Witnesses:

S. A. S. FRAZER, W. A. Rossrrna. 

